How to Electrify Your Resume

Even while channels proliferate to communicate your passions, position and career preferences, the resume remains firm as your calling card and one of the essential documents that helps you define who you are, what you do and the value you bring to the table.  I know, there is much talk today about the importance of the resume or the declining value of it.  The fact remains that the resume is still used by the majority of talent hunters in today’s hotly competitive job market.  It is what can get you in the front door, if done well, or prevent your entry, if not.

I have written extensively about the resume over the years including these posts, It's About the Accomplishments,  Is the Resume Dead, Constructing a Compelling Resume , Rebooting Your Resume,  among others.  I have also advised employing your resume as the basis for your LinkedIn and Facebook profiles.  This assures consistency, repeatability and better search engine optimization by focusing on your essential and core competencies.

So given the continuing importance of the resume, it is vital to keep the resume fresh, vibrant, interactive, enticing and engaging.  The following simple techniques can help to accomplish this and serve to electrify or bring your resume to life with your legacy, life and professional longings.

Opening Salvo.  Include the urls to your Google+,  LinkedIn and Facebook profiles at the top of your resume along with your email address.  Make certain they are hot links so the hiring manager can easily dive into your data that resides on these social infrastructure platforms.

Link it live.  Use your summary or qualifications statement to bring your elevator speech to life.  Make it a live link to either an audio file of you reciting your elevator speech or an on camera rendition.  You can accomplish both tasks using the video function on your smart phone or other tools such as Skype for the desk top or Google+.  Upload the resulting audio or video file to your YouTube channel allows you to institutionalize it for all to see and hopefully marvel.  If you do not have a YouTube channel create one.  It is on this platform that you can create and store original video and audio content for immediate access through links in the resume.

Embed links to owned/earned content.  Employ direct links to your online content within your experience section to provide evidence and validation of your accomplishments or contributions to your employers.  For example, if you wrote copy for an online annual report or the script for a mini documentary, provide the direct “hot” link in the description of the accomplishment.   If you have quantitative data showing the result of a campaign or increased revenues link to an infographic that visually tells the story.  This will help you keep the copy succinct on the resume while providing an easy way to see the full content.  Even if your contribution is a successful pitch to a journalist, provide the link to the actual story.  Adding links to content enhances your resume without needlessly making it lengthy.

Don’t Forget School.   Live linking to your education and professional affiliations can also add further dimension to your background and experience.  When listing your academic credentials, make hot links to your university and degree so that with a simple click an interested hiring manager can see directly the detail about your credential and the curriculum you mastered.  The same is true for professional affiliations you maintain or certifications you hold.  Make those live as well to the associations web site and the detail of your certifications .